Sunday, 11 December 2016

Thirukarthigai Deepam, an exciting Hindu festival

Among the Shiva temples of India, Thiruvanamalai temple, Thiruvannamalai is closely associated with Thirukarthigai Deepam that comes in the Tamil month of Karthigai (November - December) on Pournami day (Full moon day). The moon is in union with the constellation Karthigai (Pleiades) and pournami (full moon). Being an important Hindu festival, it is celebrated on such a grand scale, this ten day festival attracts as many as 20 million people from Tamil Nadu and other parts of India. On the Thirukarthigai/Karthigai Deepam day, the whole house is decorated with a series of oil lamps and this year, Thiru Karthigai falls on 12 December 2016. The 10-day grand festival
began ceremoniously with the hoisting of the holy flag at the Sri
Arunachaleswarar temple here ten days ago between 7.15 a.m. and 8.30 a.m.on Saturday.

Thiru Karthigai deepam is about Lord Shiva - famous Cosmic dancer, symbolic of eternity, who appeared as a tall pillar of gigantic fire before God Brahma and God Vishnu who had a serious verbal deal over their supremacy without concentrating on their divine duties. Their ego and veil of arrogance were torn apart and they became subdued when both of them could not find either the crown or the bottom of the fiery pillar of Shiva. The day on which the God appeared as a pillar of fire is Thirukarthigai / Karthigai Deepam. Here at the temple town of Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, Lord Shiva appeared as a hill - Arunachala Hill (holy fire hill).

Hence here Lord Shiva is an embodiment of fire, one of the Pancha Boothas (five essential elements) and the Shiva Linga here is called Agni Lingam. Here he is "Jyothi Swarupam"; being the God of light he gets rid of our ignorance and leads us from darkness to light. The lighting of oil lamps at homes and temples has been a Hindu tradition and is considered as an auspicious religious duty. That is the reason why the oil lamp is lit in the temples and homes symbolically followed by lightning of giant oil lamp on the hill of Arunachala behind the temple.

According to the Hindu mythology, on this day, Lord Shiva blessed the six nymphs with immortality as they brought up Karthikaya /Muruga (in the tank called Saravana) with care and affection and they at last became six stars
(Pleiades) in the firmament, a lasting tribute to them for their
services to the Almighty. They are called Karthigai kannigas. He created Karthikaya to kill the demon king Soorapadhman who caused lots of trouble to the Devas and holy saints. Hence Lord Subramanya has six abodes / shrines (in Tamil : Aarupadai Veedu) in Tamil Nadu and in Murugan temples, this festival is observed with devotion and bakthi. Further, Karthigai deepam marks the birth day of Lord Karthikaya, the second son of Lord Shiva, first being Lord Ganesa.

As part of ten day 10 festival, every day around four Mada Streets around the temple as in the past,
well-decorated deities would be taken in a procession on different
chariots and mounts. It is a custom to bring out the temple car /
chariot / ther on the seventh day and this month it took place on 9
December. Five decorated wooden chariots carrying deities were pulled
manually by people in hundreds all along the four Mada street as in the
past. The most important event ThiruKarthigai Maha Deepam will be on the evening of December 12, as mentioned above, and it is followed by the three-day float festival (Theppa Thiruvizha).

For Kathigai Deepam event alone, it is expected about 700,000 people will be visiting this temple town. During the entire festival days, this place is reverberated with devotional hymns on Lord Shiva rendered with religious fervor.

On the evening of this festival, women, wearing the new dress, light rows of oil lamps at homes and around the houses. Through out the state of Tamil Nadu, in the evening oil lamps are lit at home and temples only after the giant Karthigai Deepam is lit on the Arunachala hill at Thiruvannamalai. The belief is that Thirukarthigai Deepam festival, in the ensuing year, will usher in peace and
prosperity to the home and society, besides, the sanctity of the
places is further purified. Yet another fact is lighting of oil lamps at
home will guard the home dwellers from evil spirits, black magic and
spells.

Girivalam (in Sanskrit Giri means hill; Valam in Tamil means going around clockwise) - the act of going around the holy Arunachala mountain once is an important religious undertaking among the devotees. On the Thirukarthigai day and on other auspicious days people in thousands do Girivalam here. It is expected a large section of the people would be performing
“Girivalam” around the hill, when the Maha Deepam is lit
on the 12 th December evening.

Lables

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I am KN.Jayaraman, Retd Geologist, author of this blog. I have a strong passion for Ancient Indian Culture, art, architecture, etc...
I started this blog with a view to covering the above areas and also odd things related to India.
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